John Humphrys, equal pay crusader

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It’s been an awkward week or so for John Humphrys. The Today programme presenter – who is thought to earn over £600,000 per annum – found himself in the naughty corner when an audio surfaced of Humphrys appearing to make light of his colleague Carrie Gracie’s decision to stand down as China editor over ‘pay discrimination’. His comments were met with fury by many BBC colleagues concerned over the corporation’s gender pay gap.

So let’s spare a minute to pay tribute the bright spark at the Beeb who decided it would be a good idea to get Humphrys to grill the Guardian‘s Katharine Viner over potential gender pay imbalance at the Grauniad. In a move that raised eyebrows at the Corporation, Humphrys – seemingly rebranding as an equal pay crusader – pushed Viner to commit to equal gender pay in the future:

JH: And on the question of money, pay differentials between women and men and all that. Is there a pay gap at the Guardian and other newspapers in Britain? Because the BBC has admitted that there is one at this organisation.

KV: Yes, like all organisations, with more than 250 people we’re currently auditing our gender pay differential if there is one, I presume there is one.

Viner went on to pay tribute to the increased transparency that will bring about a ‘bumpy few years’. No doubt Humphrys would agree with that.